The twenty-sixth United Nations world climate conference, Cop 26, scheduled to take place in Glasgow this coming November, risks getting off on the wrong foot. After three weeks of daily videoconference meetings, the pre-summit negotiations held between May and June concluded with yet another substantial failure.

Financing, transparency and the carbon market stall the pre-Cop 26 negotiations

"I cannot say that there have been major steps forward," admitted at a press conference Patricia Espinosa, secretary-general of the Unfccc, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that organises the Cops. "What is needed," she added, "is guidance at the political level." A comment that appears more candid than the official statement, in which the official speaks of "a lot of work to do" but also of an "overall positive assessment".

The problems that proved effectively insurmountable during the preparatory session were three in particular. First, those related to the financing that will need to be provided for mitigation and adaptation policies on climate change. It may seem incredible, but there is still debate over the 100 billion dollars a year that the world's wealthy nations were supposed to grant to the poorest and most vulnerable ones. A commitment made at Cop 15 in Copenhagen, in 2009, which has never been honoured, except partially.

The Climate Explainer @ClimateExplainr

𝕏

My takeaways from attending the virtual May-June UN climate "subsidiary bodies" conference over the last 3 weeks @UNFCCC #SB2021.

1) Little progress was made and #COP26 is facing intense pressure to finalize Paris Agreement implementation and guidelines.

#ClimateExplainer

1/

♥ 3💬 1 17 giu 2021 · Apri su X →

Cop 26 president Alok Sharma convenes a new meeting

Secondly, discussions stalled on the issue of transparency. Governments are being asked to allow monitoring of the efforts made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, also in relation to the agreed timetable. Finally, there is no agreement on the terms of the so-called carbon market. This is the same issue that paralysed the entire duration of Cop 25 in Madrid, in 2019.

At the centre of the dispute is Article 6 of the Agreement: the article that was supposed to set out the rules governing the new system for trading CO2 emission quotas. In the face of the impossibility of finding a compromise between nations, everything had been deferred to subsequent rounds of negotiations.

If common ground cannot be found on these issues, it will be difficult — if not impossible — to make the Paris Agreement, reached some five and a half years ago in the French capital, operational. It is partly for this reason that Cop 26 president Alok Sharma convened a restricted meeting, on 25 and 26 July, to be held in London. A meeting of "delegate representatives of ministers from more than 40 nations", which will need to "advance the technical work" building on the latest negotiations.

Climate Action Network International (CAN) @CANIntl

𝕏

Its going to take political will to build on these 3 weeks of #SB2021 otherwise we are building castles in the sand we will watch the @COP26 Presidency roadmap & the #G7 to unlock the politics (and bring the $$$) to keep #1o5C alive at Glasgow @jennytollmann @e3g

♥ 6 17 giu 2021 · Apri su X →

Why it is necessary to force the hand to overcome reluctance on climate

Sharma added that "we need to accelerate as we approach Cop 26 and maintain the target of 1.5 degrees Celsius" of limiting the rise in average global temperature, by 2100, compared to pre-industrial levels. To achieve this, however, it will also be necessary to force the hand of reluctant governments. British diplomacy will need to replicate the success achieved by French diplomacy in 2015. At that time, however, the global political landscape was not what it is today. And there was no pandemic in the recent past, which too many would like to put behind them "at any cost".